Seung Ki Kwak

Economist and quantitative researcher with experience at the Federal Reserve Board analyzing financial stability, banking, capital markets, macro-financial conditions, corporate credit, leveraged finance, and private capital/private credit risks.

Combines

PhD-level finance research, theoretical modeling, empirical analysis, and policy-oriented communication for senior audiences. Research portfolio spans corporate loan markets, monetary policy transmission, LBO/private equity behavior, private capital performance, asset management, and behavioral/market-frictions topics.

Economist / Senior Economist at Federal Reserve Board (2018-01 – 2026-03)

• Monitored and analyzed vulnerabilities in financial stability, banking, financial markets, macroeconomic conditions, corporate credit, leveraged finance, and private capital/private credit markets.
• Prepared quantitative analysis, risk assessments, briefing materials, and concise policy-oriented memos for senior internal audiences on emerging market and financial-system risks.
• Studied corporate loan markets, private credit, LBO/private equity activity, private capital performance, and monetary policy transmission using empirical methods and market/supervisory data.
• Translated complex empirical findings and theoretical mechanisms into clear written products for economists, policy staff, and supervisory/risk-monitoring audiences.
• Worked across research, financial-stability, policy, and supervisory contexts involving sensitive economic and market information.

Administrative Section Chief / Squad Leader, 1-38 Field Artillery, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th U.S. Army at Republic of Korea Army / Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA) (2005-01 – 2007-12)

• Led administrative operations and supervised a squad in a bilingual U.S.-Korea military environment.

Ph.D. in Finance – MIT Sloan School of Management (2018)

Ph.D. in Physics - String Theory – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012)

B.S. in Physics – Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (2005)